By Natalya Koshnitsky, Marketing Manager, Resource Partnership
E-working has recently become one of the most desired work models in the United States. With the skyrocketing cost of gasoline, limited office space and the need to retain valuable staff, the work-at-home model has become more and more attractive to employers. Despite the obvious benefits, many employers still resist because of the unknown: e-employees represent uncharted territory, they will need to be trusted to work independently and diligently with less supervision, and they will need additional IT and tech support. While some employers hesitate, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) has not only implemented this model successfully, but also appears to thrive on it.
One of the e-worker success stories is of an employee who has a chronic condition that limits his ability to walk and makes it difficult to stand or sit for extended periods of time. The employee’s condition was aggravated by a long commute to work, and he subsequently had to take a lot of sick time. To qualify to work from home, he submitted a business proposal and met BCBSMA’s basic requirements: his job performance exceeded the standard, he had a private work area in his home and the nature of his job was identified as e-working eligible. Once he became an e-employee, he took significantly less sick time and was able to keep his productivity high. As a result, the organization had not only retained a valued employee and saved on real estate, but also helped the individual remain productive and happy by enabling an environment that worked best for him.
BCBSMA officially introduced a work-at-home model in April 2006. According to Catherine Devlin, Human Resources Manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts: "E-working, as part of BCBSMA's suite of flexible work arrangements, was launched as a means to enhance our associates' work/life balance, reduce real estate costs, and enhance recruitment and retention". She added that, "along with all these benefits, e-working is also playing a role in ensuring that we're prepared for the possibility of a flu pandemic or any other catastrophic event.”
At BCBSMA e-working is neither an entitlement nor a company-wide benefit, and is offered as a voluntary work alternative only to those employees whose jobs have been identified as eligible for e-working. “E-working enables associates to work seamlessly from home, electronically, full-time, 5 days a week, when it meets both the needs of the business and the needs of the associate," states Ms. Devlin.
One year later, in 2007, the Member Service Department of BCBSMA transitioned 50 associates to a work-at-home arrangement, which helped the organization retain service representatives, improve associate's work/life balance and support associates working from out of state.
That same year, the organization also repositioned over 20% of their clinical department to e-working arrangements. As Paula Choquette Clinical Business Advisor and e-Working Coordinator for the Clinical Coordination Department at BCBSMA explained: “ Clinical Coordination decided to deploy a large percentage of e-workers in 2007 for multiple reasons; associates had been requesting to have this type of flexible work arrangement available to them for many years and other health insurers were already offering this to staff and we wanted to remain competitive in our recruitment efforts”. She added that their area “was particularly challenged for office space at the time due to new programs and we recognized the positive impact particularly in the area of work/life balance for our associates as well as the corporate gains in terms of employee retention, productivity and real estate”.
To ensure the arrangement is running smoothly BCBSMA regularly surveys both the leaders (supervisors) and the e-workers. Soon they plan to survey the staff working from the office as well because those in the office help the e-employees stay connected and feel part of the team. The feedback will give BCBSMA a complete picture of the impact of the e-working model. “ The employee response has been tremendous and positive particularly when it comes to work/life balance. Employees have found they have more time for their children and families now that they have eliminated their long commutes; a few have time to go to the gym, and they are eating healthier and saving money”, said Ms. Choquette.
For BCBSMA e-working has been successful, but when they recommend it to other employers, they caution that it takes a concerted and determined effort to make the arrangement work. “ Prior to offering e-working, each organization needs to make sure that they can provide associates with the proper IT equipment and technical support, establish criteria and processes for selecting the appropriate employees, work closely with their HR partners to answer every possible question (and there were many), establish metrics that measure standard performance goals for e-workers and in-office staff, and provide training to both leaders and employees,” advises Ms. Choquette . She observes that it has been a huge culture shift, and when implementing this model, everyone needs to be included in the process. As a final note, Paula says, “I have to say from personal experience this has been one of the most challenging and rewarding projects that I have participated in during my career at BCBSMA”.
February 2008
[back to top] [back to articles]
Resource Partnership
251 West Central Street, Suite 31, Natick, MA 01760
P) 508.647.1722 Toll-Free) 1.877.YES.WORK F) 508.647.9622 TTY) 508.652.7284
info@resourcepartnership.org
[View Our Sitemap] [Home]
Email the webmaster if you have any accessibility problems with this web site.